The Berserk Coffee Shop AU We All Need
by animomma
Summary: Griffith owns a coffee shop, and is an asshole. Guts takes care of it, and rescues Casca. Fuck Griffith.


It was a quiet morning at The Hawk.

Casca had always thought it was an unusual name for a coffee shop. But hey, she wasn't there to criticize the name, she was just there to pump the zombie-like customers full of caffeine until they resembled human beings instead of undead monsters.

On this particular morning, she hadn't served very many zombies, however. So when the bell on the door tinkled, she looked up eagerly with her best coffee-shop smile on her face, eager to have something to break up her boredom. The smile died on her lips, however, when she recognized the person who was walking toward the counter; Griffith, the owner of The Hawk. She quickly pasted on a plastic semblance of her earlier smile, not wanting to upset her white-haired boss with her obvious displeasure at seeing him.

Thankfully, he hadn't seemed to notice her flash of emotion, and smiled at her coolly. His delicate features were definitely aesthetically pleasing, and she had to admit that, at first, she had been attracted to this beautiful man. It hadn't taken long, however, for the coffee shop's sole female employee to start noticing that she was treated differently than the men. Griffith stood closer to her than he did to Pippin or Judeau, touched her more than he touched Corkus, paid her more attention than he did Rickert. And, quickly, this attention had morphed into lingering touches that bordered on inappropriate, whispered instructions into her ear, and overly sexual jokes, told in a sultry voice.

All of these incidents had come to a head one night about a week prior when they were closing The Hawk together, and Griffith had pressed himself on her. He'd kissed her harshly, demandingly, in a way that left nothing of her own desires to be considered. Luckily, Casca was adept at self-defense, and had quickly managed to get him off of her, even managing to laugh the situation off. But their working relationship hadn't been the same ever since. Griffith seemed to think that he owned her in some way, and made several power plays at her. He showered her in small gifts, money, and even went so far as to legally name her as his business partner at The Hawk. Casca was finding it harder and harder to come up with ways of putting him off without losing her job.

This particular morning, it seemed, Griffith had come ready to play. He walked around the counter towards her with an air of a cat stalking a bird, predatory eyes burning from his otherwise composed face.

"Good morning, Casca," he purred, stepping just a little too close to her.

"Good morning, Griffith," she replied in what she hoped was a detached tone, subtly shifting backwards to give herself some distance from him.

He hardly seemed to notice, however, and reached a hand out to cup her cheek. "H have you been this morning, my dear?"

She shuffled backwards a little more. "Um, I'm fine, Griffith. It's been pretty slow today, though." She gestured around the shop, indicating the few regular patrons that had come by to have a drink, some of who were casting disapproving glances at the obviously unwanted display of attention she was receiving.

Griffith didn't bother looking away from her face, simply stepping forward as she continued to inch back. "Ah, that's too bad. I'm sure that we could find something to occupy ourselves together, though?" Casca felt her lower back bump into the counter, marking the end of her flight from her boss, as he continued. "Perhaps this evening we could go out? See a movie, have some dinner, come back to my place?" His eyes burned in his head as he leaned his face closer towards hers.

At that moment, Casca was relieved to hear the sound of the bell over the door ringing again, and quickly turned her head towards the sound, trying to subtly push Griffith out of her personal space as she did. Upon recognizing the customer, a genuine smile of happiness stretched her face, and she positively beamed at the tall, dark man approaching the counter.

"Guts, good morning!" she sang out, still trying to push Griffith off of her. Guts was a regular customer, and seemed to have her schedule memorized, as he came in every time she had a shift. After her initial adoration of Griffith had worn off, Casca had quickly noticed that Guts had several good qualities. His looks were vastly different from Griffith's fine-boned structure, but not any less attractive. He was always kind and attentive towards her, in his own gruff way, making sure to engage her in conversation, and really listening to her answers. If you called him out on it, though (as some of her coworkers jokingly had), he would just _tsk_ harshly and pretend that he didn't know what they were talking about, and retreat to his seat to nurse his espresso in silence. Casca always felt safe with him around, his bulky form near her somehow comforting like a safety blanket, even with his tiny espresso cup thrown into stark contrast with his large frame.

She'd had a growing interest in the solemn man, and over the last few weeks, had engaged in some light flirting with him. To anyone else watching, it seemed very one-sided, as Corcus was always ready to point out to her. She'd known Guts for months now, though, and had picked up on some of his body language that told her otherwise. She would be willing to bet that he was interested in her, too.

Her conclusion seemed to be holding true, as Guts now marched straight up to the coffee counter, a hard look on his face as he locked his eyes on Griffith, who was still looming over Casca. She looked up at her boss to find that he was returning the larger man's steely gaze with an icy one of his own. The two men stared each other down for a few tense seconds. Then Guts snapped, "Hey, you, can I get some damn service here?"

Griffith gave him a thin-lipped smile. "Of course, sir," he returned frigidly. "Just give me a moment with my employee here." He then dismissively turned his head on Guts, leaning further over Casca's form. "Think about it, my dear. I'd love to take you home tonight." Casca felt herself blanch as Griffith gave her a light slap on the ass before turning to their customer. "Now, how can I help you?"

Casca looked up at Guts, and nearly drew back in shock. His eyes, locked on her boss, were positively murderous. He managed to grind out, "Get me an espresso."

Griffith smiled smugly. "Right away, sir. I'll be right back with that." He moved to the small kitchen area in order to make the drink, shooting one last predatory glance at Casca.

As he disappeared, she shuddered involuntarily, and jumped a little bit at the feeling of a hand being placed on her head. Startled, she looked up into the dark eyes of her friend, finding a vastly different expression there for her. She'd never seen his face look so soft as he whispered to her, "Hey, Casca, are you ok?"

She nodded slightly, not trusting her voice to hold.

His eyes got sterner. "Are you sure? You didn't exactly look ok just now."

Casca cleared her throat, then smiled. "I'm fine, Guts. Griffith just…he just acts like that towards me. I don't like it, but what can I do? He's my boss."

His eyes darkened a shade. "Does he do this shit to you a lot?"

She turned her head away, being careful not to displace the comforting weight of his hand as she did so. "I…I guess so. But I can handle it. I've always been able to stop him from really doing anything to me," she added hurriedly, peering up at Guts.

He looked unconvinced. "Sure didn't look that way." He seemed like he was going to say more, but just then, Griffith reappeared holding a tiny ceramic cup on an equally tiny plate. Griffith took in the sight of Guts with his hand on Casca's hand, and a snap of possessive anger flickered in his eyes. Guts noticed the other man's gaze, and stared back levelly, keeping his hand on Casca. She was inwardly grateful, drawing comfort from the feeling of his strong body.

Griffith had reached them, and held out the cup to Guts, saying in a sugar-sweet voice that simmered with anger, "Here's your espresso, sir."

Guts gently ruffled Casca's hair before removing his hand to reach out and take the coffee. Without breaking eye contact with Griffith, he raised the cup to his lips, taking a sip of the black liquid. He closed his eyes for a moment as he swallowed, then snapped them back open. Casca was physically propelled backwards a couple steps by the pure, murderous intent that suddenly seethed there.

Guts contorted his face into a look of pure anger and disgust, curling his lip up as he snarled, "What the FUCK is this?"

Griffith looked genuinely surprised. "What do you mean? It's your espresso."

Guts roared in reply, "This ain't espresso! This is SHIT, just like YOU are!" And, with all his might, he hurled the espresso mug into the face of her startled boss, spraying coffee all over his white hair.

The cup hit his temple with a sickening thunk, and Griffith fell soundlessly backwards onto the floor, the cup falling next to him and cracking in two. The sound echoed around the suddenly silent café.

Casca stared down at him for a moment, dumbstruck. Then, her senses came back to her, and she scrambled onto the floor, loudly demanding, "Griffith? Griffith, are you all right?!" The other customers in the coffee shop began to gather around the other side of the counter cautiously, waiting for the outcome of the spectacle before them.

Casca didn't notice this, however. Not getting a reply from her boss, she reached out her fingers to find his pulse point on his coffee-covered neck. She located the point, and waited. Counted to 10. Counted to 10 again.

Nothing.

Her asshole boss was dead.

Slowly, Casca stood up. Her mind was reeling with a thousand different thoughts. She turned her head to look at Guts, and the sight of his face focused her in on one.

Guts was her hero.

And he was pretty damn hot.

Suddenly, Casca lunged over the counter dividing them, grabbed Guts around the back of the neck, and yanked his mouth forward to meet hers in a crushing kiss. His eyes widened for a moment before he returned her kiss and deepened it, turning it into an open-mouthed, desperate battle of tongues and passion.

After a second of stunned silence, the other customers in the coffee shop let out a ragged cheer, ecstatic to see the hated Griffith felled by their new hero. They'd all witnessed Griffith's inappropriate behavior towards Casca, who was a favorite among them, but had been too afraid to interfere. That coupled with his generally unpleasant behavior towards each of them at one time or another had left them all with a sour taste, which was now much sweetened by his untimely demise.

At the sound of their cheering, Casca pulled back from Guts, blushing furiously. She couldn't look him in the eyes as she quietly said, "Thank you, Guts. You've freed me from a monster." She felt his calloused hand under her chin, tilting her head up to look at him. She was immediately warmed by the tender, direct look in his eyes as he replied, "Anything for you, Casca." And, to the renewed cheering of the small crowd, he kissed her again.

The rest of the day's events passed in a blur. Of course, the police had to be called to dispose of the dead garbage at The Hawk. While the officer was on the way, the assembled customers all agreed that they would unanimously tell the police that Griffith had fallen, striking his head on the counter and hitting the coffee cup on the way down. What a tragic freak accident, they all agreed, struggling to hide their snickering as they practiced their story.

Luckily for them, the police officer dispatched to the scene had gone to high school with Griffith, and was aware of just how much of an asshole the white-haired man had been. Therefore, he was all too ready to accept the dubious testimonies of the crowd, and declare the case an accidental death.

After that, things quieted down at The Hawk for a while. Casca, who had been named as a partner, inherited the café, much to the delight of the customers and employees alike. Eventually, she and Guts settled down and got married, and everyone lived happily ever after since Griffith the asshole was dead.

THE END


End file.
